


I Can Help You

by Mim0901



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Arguing, Character Death, Middle School, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29973597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mim0901/pseuds/Mim0901
Summary: Nathan always listens to his parents arguing. He wishes he could escape, but he's too cautious to do anything to help himself. The one time he breaks the rules, he gets caught, and he gets hurt. Nate has a strange text message on his phone from an unknown number. What would happen if he did what the message told him?





	1. Chapter 1

Nathan hopped off the bus and walked down the street to his house. He climbed the stairs up onto the porch and unlocked the front door.

"I'm home!" he called to his parents. He could hear their voices in the kitchen. They didn't sound happy.

"You _have_ to follow the recipe, Diane," Nate's dad yelled.

"I just think it would be better with vanilla," Diane, Nate's mother, said.

"Fine! You can make them by yourself, and when they taste awful, don't blame me!" Nate's dad stormed out of the kitchen.

"Andrew..." Diane said quietly. She turned and saw Nate. "Hi, sweetie," she said kindly. "We were just making the cookies for my work's bake sale tomorrow." 

"Why is he mad?" Nate asked.

Diane just smiled. "He's tired from work, that's all."

Nate knew his mother was lying, but he just nodded. He walked down the hall to his room. He dropped his book bag next to his desk and sat down to start on his homework.

He pulled out his math book and started working. As he worked, he heard his parents' bedroom door open and muffled voices.

There was a loud bang. Nate flinched. He could hear his dad's voice. He was yelling. Nate sometimes wondered if that was the only way his dad could communicate.

Moments later, there was a knock on Nate's door. Diane crept into his room.

"Dinner's almost ready," she said. "You can come to get ready to make your plate."

Nate looked at his mom. She had a bruise forming on her cheek.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked.

"Of course," Diane replied.

Nate stared at the dark spot on his mother's face. "Why don't we leave?" 

"Hush," his mom whispered, "he might hear you."

Nate sighed. His mom never let him talk about leaving his dad. Nate just wanted to get out and actually enjoy his childhood. 

Nate stood and followed his mom to the kitchen. _I wonder what he threw at her this time._

Nate grabbed a plate and got his food. He sat at the dinner table and began to eat. Diane joined him a minute later.

His father never came out of his bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

"Have a good day at school," Diane said. She waved goodbye as Nate got onto the bus.

Nate headed to the back where his friend Eli was sitting. Eli moved over to make room. Nate sat down.

"Hey, did you finish the math homework? There were a few questions I didn't understand," Eli asked.

"Which ones?" Nate asked, pulling his homework out of his bag.

"All of them," Eli laughed. He took the papers out of Nate's hand.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Good luck getting all of that before we get to school."

Eli shook his head. "I don't need all of it, just enough to make it look like I tried." He started writing down the answers. "Also, speaking of school, I think we should skip after lunch," he said, not looking up from his paper.

"Skip?" Nate asked. He wasn't surprised that Eli would suggest it. Honestly, he was surprised that his friend hadn't asked to skip class sooner. "We're about to be out for winter break. What would be the point?"

"Shock factor," Eli replied. "Imagine the teachers' faces when they find out that two _seventh-graders_ skipped class days before winter break started."

Nate shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea," he decided.

"Come _on,_ Nate! It'll be fun," Eli insisted. "We can go to that bookstore down the road that you like."

"I'm in."

"Yes!" Eli cheered. "I'll buy you something."

"Good. I wanted to spend my money on something for Teagan," Nate said.

"Why? You two aren't even together."

Nate shrugged. "We're still friends. I'm hoping she might get the hint that I like her if I give her something for Christmas."

"What if she doesn't like you?" Eli asked.

"Then I'll just say it was a friendly gift," Nate replied.

The bus pulled up to the school. Eli handed Nate his math homework, and they both got off the bus.

Nate headed to English class. Mrs. Lee was already in the room writing notes on the whiteboard. Nate sat down in his chair at the front of the class and waited for more kids to get there. He waited for Teagan. She had English with him.

Nate took out his phone. He had a message from Eli.

It said: Don't forget, we're out of here after lunch!

Nate sent back a thumbs up. Someone sat down next to him.

"Hey, Nate. What's up?" Teagan asked.

"I'm good. I'm tired, like always," Nate responded. Teagan's hair was very pretty today. It was braided into pigtails. "Your hair looks nice."

Teagan smiled. "Thank you. My mom helped me with it this morning."

More students had come into the classroom, and it was time for class to start. Nate put his phone up and paid attention to his teacher.

The class was over quickly. Nate said goodbye to Teagan and went to his next class.

Before Nate realized it, it was time for lunch. He met Eli in the lunchroom. They got their food and sat down at their table to eat.

"You ready to get out of here?" Eli asked quietly.

"Not really," Nate replied. "I'm only doing this for the bookstore."

Eli rolled his eyes. "You're so boring."

"No, I'm just cautious," Nate argued. "My dad would kill me if he found out I was skipping."

"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't find out," Eli laughed.

Once lunch ended, Eli led the way out of one of the side doors of the school. They walked down the street to Nate's favorite bookstore. They walked inside, and Nate went straight to where the Percy Jackson books were.

He found which book he needed then searched for something for Teagan. He knew that she liked Harry Potter. Maybe he could get her a plushie.

Nate picked out a Ron plush, but he wanted to get her something else too. He looked at the book in his hand. _I could get her the first Percy Jackson book,_ he thought.

Nate walked back to the Percy Jackson books and grabbed the first one. Eli walked up to him.

"You found something?" Eli asked.

"Yep. I'm ready to go," Nate responded.

Eli sighed. "We can't go back to school yet. We've barely done anything."

Nate agreed. "Want to go get milkshakes?" 

Eli smiled. "Always!"

They paid for their things and left the bookstore.


	3. Chapter 3

Nate got off of the bus and walked up the steps to his front door. His phone buzzed as he opened the door. He checked his phone while he walked to his room.

He had a text from an unknown number. It said: Need help with something? Anything? Just open your window and whistle.

Nate rolled his eyes and set his phone down on his bedside table. _Probably just chain mail or something,_ he thought. He sat down at his desk and started on his homework.

"Nathan! Get out here!"

Nate flinched when he heard his dad yell. He quickly left his room. He only found his mom.

"He went out to the front porch," his mom said.

Nate walked out the door and found his dad sitting in a chair on the porch. "What is it?" Nate asked.

"I just got a call from your school," Nate's dad said.

 _Oh no!_ Nate moved to stand in front of his dad. "What did they want?"

Andrew stood up. "They said you skipped school." He looked at his son. "Why would you do that?"

Nate hesitated. "Eli told me to."

"And you listened?" his dad yelled.

Nate backed away. "He's my friend. Nothing bad happened," he said quietly.

Nate's mom walked out onto the porch.

"You should've told him no!" Andrew got into Nate's face.

Nate backed up again. He was getting close to the edge of the stairs.

"Andrew," Diane warned her husband.

Andrew stepped closer to Nate. "Why did you skip? I thought we raised you better than this!"

"You're always in your room," Nate countered. "You've barely had any say in raising me."

Andrew stared at his son. "Get out," he whispered.

Nate stepped back. His foot teetered at the edge of the first step. "What?"

"Get out." Andrew stepped forward again. "Now!"

Nate flinched and lost his footing. His foot slipped and he fell backward. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head as he hit the pavement. Everything went black.

When Nate opened his eyes, all he felt was the pain. He was still on the ground. He slowly stood, trying to ignore the throbbing in his skull. 

His parents were staring at him in shock. They said nothing.

"I'm going to my room," Nate said quietly.

His parents stayed silent.


End file.
